


Tag Hunt

by avianscribe



Series: Bad Ends [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avianscribe/pseuds/avianscribe
Summary: Noct and Gladio get recruited for a tag hunt while they're waiting for Prompto and Ignis to show up...
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Series: Bad Ends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623556
Comments: 27
Kudos: 41





	Tag Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> The second installment of my "Bad Ends" series, in which everything is awful... ಥ﹏ಥ

“I thought Ignis said they’d be waiting for us here,” Noctis says. He finishes folding his straw wrapper into a little triangle and flicks it across the table. It bounces off Gladio’s chest.

Gladio grunts. “You didn’t expect them to sit here twiddling their thumbs, didja? We weren’t exactly fast.”

No, they weren’t fast. Running to Hammerhead for supplies was a pretty long trip. Ignis had offered to take hunts with Prompto while they waited, to “shore up their dwindling funds,” as he’d said, and it had seemed like good sense at the time. But now that they are back in Cleigne, Noctis isn’t so sure.

He misses Ignis’s cooking, and Prompto’s inane chatter.

Taelpar is a pretty remote place for Ignis and Prompto to hang out, but Ignis’s last text said they were taking a hunt there, and could meet up at the Crow’s Nest at the Taelpar outpost. Noctis and Gladio have been here six hours now, waiting for word. Gladio’s first message went unanswered. They’d called on the hour, and every one had gone to voicemail. 

“If they’re in a cave somewhere they won’t have a signal,” Gladio says. “Just chill. We’ll get a room, and they’ll be here when they can.” 

Noctis can’t quite shake the feeling that Gladio’s as nervous as _he_ is. He’s covering it up for Noct’s sake, but he has his tells.

The bell on the door jingles as someone enters, and their heads turn in tandem hope.

It’s just Dave Auburnbrie. Noctis sinks back into the booth with a frustrated sigh and plucks at the crumbs on his plate.

Dave pauses just inside the door and scans the dining room. When his eyes land on Noctis and Gladio, he makes for them, his mouth set in a grim line.

“Dave,” Gladio greets. 

“Hey, boys,” Dave says somberly. “Got an errand for ya.” 

Gladio glances at Noctis, who shrugs. “Don’t have anything better to do,” he says.

Dave takes that as a yes and pulls a stool over to the end of the booth table. He sits, and leans forward on his elbows. “Just got a report from a tipster,” he says. “A couple hunters went out after a mark but haven’t reported back yet. It’s been two days. He’s afraid they might be in a bad way.”

Noctis looks at Gladio, who shrugs. “We’re just waiting. Glad to lend a hand.”

“At this point, I’m afraid it might be a tag hunt rather than a rescue,” Dave says. “Since it’s been so long since they checked in…”

“We’ll do whatever we can to help,” Noctis says. Collecting hunters’ tags isn’t glamorous, but… he knows what it’s like to lose someone dear. The family, their loved ones... they would want to know what happened.

He sure wishes _he_ knew -- like, _really knew --_ what had happened to his dad. He’s sure Gladio feels the same about Clarus. They know what the reports say, but. He hasn’t talked to anyone yet who saw his dad’s final moments. He has no idea where his dad’s final resting place _is._

At the very least, he can give someone else that peace of mind. 

Dave gives them the information he knows. The hunt the poor souls were after should have been an easy one; a small pack of voreteeth in the foothills around the Taelpar outpost, in fact. Convenient. The hunters must have run into something unexpected. It wouldn’t be a first.

Gladio leads the way, taking a trail that winds behind the station and into the hills. It isn’t too long before they find the telltale signs of a fight -- probably two days or so old. Gladio scans the ground for clues, bending now and then to inspect some detail or other. 

“These claw marks sure look like voreteeth to me,” he says. “And blood here. Dry. Looks like they got their mark, at least. So what got _them?”_ That last, he almost says to himself. He straightens and continues walking, scanning the ground. Noctis does the same, but he isn’t nearly as good at this as Gladio. The Shield has a knack for reading information from a bent blade of grass.

They go on like this, Gladio slowly picking out the trail and Noctis following him into the box canyon -- and there, they get a better idea of what might have happened to the hapless hunters. A scorch mark on the ground has all the hallmarks of an electric strike. And there are more claw marks of a different shape.

“Coeurl,” Gladio grunts. “Better keep an eye out… if it’s still in here, things could get dicey for us.”

“Yeah,” Noctis says, and eyes the ridgeline for movement. He doesn’t see anything… but coeurls are ambush hunters. It’s all too likely they won’t see it until it is far too late. But now they’re alerted to the possibility… and Noct’s nerves are on edge. He can’t help but zero in on every noise. 

Gladio’s still investigating the ground, tracing the signs of a battle that appears to have ranged over a wide swath of brushy terrain. Noct’s so engaged in tracking their surroundings for coeurl sign that he almost doesn’t notice when Gladio stiffens and stoops. Gladio kneels there for a long time, and then says “Noct..."

Something in his tone of voice is… off. “Yeah?” Noctis says, and straightens.

“Hang back for a moment.” 

“You find something?” 

“...Yeah.”

Noctis doesn’t like the sound of that. But they’ve been on tag-gathering trips before, and tag hunts are never _nice._ This one must be particularly bad, if Gladio thinks he shouldn’t look. 

Gladio stands and walks carefully some meters away, then kneels again. Noctis has abandoned all pretence of watching their surroundings by the time Gladio stands again, the set of his shoulders stiff. He strides farther in. 

“Gladio?” Noctis says, and follows in his wake. 

Gladio’s stopping again, crouching to the ground. “Stay back,” Gladio says, and his voice cracks in an odd way. Noctis wants to obey but also wants to know what in all Eos could affect his Shield like this. He doesn’t stop. 

Nothing can be worse than that time they found a shoe with a foot still in it, could it?

He changes his mind fast, when he gets to the first place Gladio knelt. 

Noctis pauses just long enough to see a partially-obscured boot print -- a horseshoe-shaped heel that is far too familiar. He tears his eyes away from it and takes off after Gladio even _faster._ There’s something bubbling in the back of his throat that stops him from voicing the question that rises to his lips. 

The question dies completely when Gladio stands and turns, his face ashen. His expression is twisted in a way Noctis has never seen before, and his eyes are glassy and damp. Noctis stumbles to a halt right in front of him. He swallows, the thing in his throat rising.

Gladio is holding something -- several somethings? -- in his hand. On reflex Noctis reaches out. 

He wants to know. _He doesn’t want to know._

The thing in his throat bubbles up as a scream when Gladio drops the things into his cupped hands: a blood-spattered studded black leather wristband, a pair of broken glasses, and two hunters’ tags.

**Author's Note:**

> So as I was finishing this, I was trying to decide how things went down for Ignis and Prompto… Which of them got taken out first?


End file.
